Background/aims: We have shown that continuous intra-arterial combination chemotherapy (IACC) might be more effective for advanced HCC (aHCC) in patients with HCV-related (C-LC) or alcoholic (A-LC) liver cirrhosis (LC) patients than in patients with HBV-related LC (B-LC). This study retrospectively assesses the difference of etiology on host immunity in LC patients with aHCC treated by IACC.
Methodology: Forty-seven adult LC patients with aHCC were treated by IACC between 2005 and 2008, with inoperable tumors according to CT findings. IACC (LV at 12 mg/hr, CDDP at 10 mg/hr, and 5-FU at 250 mg/22 hr) was delivered via the proper hepatic artery every 5 days for 4 weeks using a catheter connected to a subcutaneously implanted drug delivery system. The control group comprised 13 healthy volunteers.
Results: Twelve of the 47 patients with aHCC had B-LC, 27 had C-LC, and 8 had A-LC. In the B-LC group, 1 out of 12 patients had a Japan Integrated Staging (JIS) score of 2, 4 had a JIS score of 3, 7 had a JIS score of 4, and no patients had a JIS score of 5, while the respective numbers were 6, 9, 10 and 2 in the C-LC group, and 1, 1, 5 and 1 in the A-LC group. The response rates were 37.0%, 37.5% and 8.3% in the C-LC, A-LC and B-LC group, respectively. In the C-LC group, the percentage of Th1 cells before and after chemotherapy was significantly higher than in the control group. In the B-LC group, the percentage of Th2 cells after chemotherapy was significantly higher than that in the control group. However, there were no significant differences of Th1 and Th2 cells between the A-LC group and the control group.
Conclusions: These results indicate that IACC was more effective for aHCC in A-LC patients with normal Th1/Th2 balance and in C-LC patients without Th2 dominance than in B-LC patients who showed Th2 dominance after chemotherapy.